The matter of the nas took far longer to settle than Noah expected.
Mostly because Eve refused to let it go until she got a proper answer.
The vampire sohow managed to recruit the others to her side as well, even those like Ailetta and Arachne who had nothing to do with the conversation.
By the ti the discussion ended, Noah found himself promising the three monsters that he would explain the origins behind their nas after they dealt with the goblins.
Only then did the accusations finally stop.
Well... Mostly.
Eve still looked suspicious that he was planning to forget.
Noah chose to ignore her. For now, there were more imdiate matters to handle.
—
His attention turned to Arachne.
The spider was initially prepared to leave and gather them personally. However, after taking a single step, she suddenly paused.
Rembering her newly obtained ability, Arachne instead attempted to contact them directly.
The experience was far smoother than she expected.
One by one, the familiar presences responded to her call until, eventually, six separate minds answered her almost imdiately.
It was then that Arachne discovered a problem.
Including her royal guard, there were supposed to be seven spiders.
For a brief mont, Arachne believed sothing had happened, but her royal guard quickly explained that the final spider was still patrolling.
The discovery that her ability had a shorter range than she initially thought was mildly disappointing.
Fortunately, the issue was easily resolved. The royal guard relayed her summons, and before long, the final mber of her brood arrived alongside the others.
Noah quietly observed the process from beginning to end.
Just from the subtle pride hidden within Arachne’s expression, he could already tell she was beginning to appreciate her ability far more than before.
And from their restless movents alone, Noah could already infer that Arachne had inford them exactly what was about to happen.
For all their obedience, they were still monsters.
And monsters naturally desired strength, especially when there was a chance of evolution.
The anticipation was practically radiating from them.
By the ti the final spider arrived, Noah’s tendrils were already beginning to spread.
The process itself shouldn’t have taken long.
Or at least... That was what Noah expected.
Because just as he was about to begin, he noticed Arachne lingering beside him.
The spider had glanced towards him several tis already. Each ti it looked as though she wanted to say sothing, only for her to stop herself before speaking.
After the fourth ti, Noah finally sighed.
"You do realize that I’ll never know what you’re thinking if you don’t actually say it."
That was enough to cause the spider to freeze.
For a mont, Noah thought she would deny that anything was bothering her at all.
Instead, her gaze drifted towards the others. More specifically, towards the three who convinced Noah to tell them about their nas.
The hesitation lasted several more seconds before she finally forced herself to speak.
"I want..." Arachne paused briefly before looking towards the massive spider standing ahead of the other soldiers. "I want a na for him."
Noah followed her gaze towards the royal guard.
Truthfully, he felt slightly sorry for the rest of the brood.
Arachne had undoubtedly beco attached to all of them over ti. Yet compared to the royal guard, the others still occupied a very different place in her mind.
The royal guard wasn’t rely one of her soldiers anymore. He was the one she relied upon the most.
That much had beco obvious long ago.
Still, Noah found the timing strange.
If she wanted a na for him, why now?
The look he gave her was enough to communicate the question.
Arachne imdiately understood what he was asking, though judging from the way she hesitated afterward, finding the right words proved much harder.
"Because I don’t know how to help him grow."
Arachne thought back to the day she t Noah and was given her na.
From that mont onward, she had strived to beco worthy of it. To beco the queen of all spiders.
Deep down, she believed that dream had shaped the path that led to her evolution.
"If he has a na... maybe it can help him, just like it helped ."
Noah slowly nodded in understanding.
However, just because he understood didn’t an he held the sa mindset.
He could tell that they all were of the belief that it was the na itself that directed their evolution.
If this had been brought up a day before, Noah would’ve regarded it as nonsense. If he would’ve given Arachne another na instead, then she would’ve still beco what she is now.
At least that was what he used to think.
Now he wasn’t so sure.
Instinctively, he wanted to say that it was all circumstantial that both Arachne and Fenrir evolutions were similar to the mythological creatures they were nad after.
That would’ve been the case before. However, Noah had already co to believe that coincidences were never what they seed.
’What actually dictated a creature’s evolution?’
The more evolutions he witnessed, the more convinced he beca that a creature’s evolution was fueled mainly by its existential path, which laid out its foundation, and then by what the creature needed most.
Yet that explanation still felt incomplete.
Noah genuinely began to consider what Arachne was implying.
What if the nas he gave truly mattered? What if they influenced their evolutionary growth just as much as his blood did?
Entertaining the possibility felt strangely unsettling.
Accepting it would imply that he was capable of deciding what another creature would beco simply by naming it.
Noah disliked the idea imdiately.
If he possessed an ability like that, surely he would’ve known about it by now.
...Right?
His thoughts lingered briefly before another possibility surfaced.
’What if it isn’t a skill? And what if it doesn’t matter who gives the na?’
The idea only complicated the question further.
Noah’s gaze eventually drifted across the gathered creatures before stopping on two particular figures.
Dummy.
And Baka.
Noah stared at the pair for several monts, then slowly shook his head.
’Let’s hope it just has to be who nas them.’
The thought alone was enough to make him abandon the line of reasoning for now.
Whether Arachne was right or not didn’t actually change the imdiate situation.
The spider was still waiting for an answer.
Noah looked back toward her, then toward the royal guard.
"...Fine." Noah agreed before shifting his attention toward the rest. "But what about them?"
Arachne’s posture beca straighter than before. Her eyes betrayed her excitent that he agreed.
However, the mont his attention shifted toward the rest of her brood, her deanor changed just as quickly.
Her gaze swept across them.
"They have to earn theirs."
The sharpness behind her voice elicited an imdiate reaction.
Every spider in the brood straightened even further than before.
Several of them even shifted forward slightly as if trying to appear more impressive.
Noah didn’t know how to react to such a scene.
Arachne’s words were undeniably harsh.
Yet sohow, they seed far more motivating than encouraging.
Arachne either failed to notice their reactions entirely or simply considered them the natural response.
The spider remained completely unapologetic.
Noah found himself suppressing a sigh.
At so point, Arachne had beco surprisingly good at acting like a queen.
Unfortunately, that also ant her soldiers were beginning to act exactly how a queen’s subjects should.
Still...
A promise was a promise.
Noah’s gaze shifted back toward the royal guard.
Normally, he would’ve simply chosen sothing that sounded fitting and moved on.
That was how most of the nas were given.
But after everything that happened earlier, Noah found himself approaching the task differently.
If nas truly mattered as much as they believed they did, then simply picking sothing that sounded impressive suddenly felt irresponsible.
His thoughts wandered through the fragnts of mythology and stories he still rembered from his old life.
Truthfully, his options were fairly limited.
Most of what he knew ca from scattered mories, movies, gas, and stories he consud long before the world changed.
At first, Noah expected to struggle.
Yet the mont he actually started thinking about the royal guard, a na surfaced almost imdiately.
Or rather... An image did.
A figure standing beneath an impossible burden. A being whose existence was defined by carrying sothing far greater than himself.
Noah’s eyes settled on the massive spider.
The royal guard had never sought glory or attention. Everything he did revolved around a singular purpose.
Serving Arachne.
The na felt so obvious that Noah almost laughed.
"Atlas."
Just as he uttered the na, the royal guard felt a jolt deep down.
Noah remained thoughtful for a mont before continuing.
"Atlas was a being whose punishnt was to carry the world upon his shoulders."
The spiders obviously had no context for what that ant.
But unlike before, Noah found himself understanding that the origin mattered just as much as the na itself.
If you were to ask Eve, perhaps even more.
"It was a task that many couldn’t do; even the strongest of beings couldn’t replace him. But in your case, your world isn’t the planet we walk on."
"It’s her."
Noah glanced toward Arachne.
"I expect you to carry every one of her burdens, hopes, and dreams. And I expect you to be able to perform that duty better than anyone else."
User Comments
0 comments from readers